The Viper's Pit
by talking cockerel
Summary: A bloodbond is made between a pureblood and an ex-human, and the price of sanity is absolute obedience. Zero refuses to parley with such derogatory terms, and Kaname punishes him for his insolence. Kaname/Zero -warning: graphic and sexual violence-
1. Chapter 1

AN: If you have read my Kaname/Zero stories starting from "the Beast Within" all the way to "Scarlet Silken Spiderweb", you will familiar with my sadistic side…This is merely an experiment on a more violent, practically insane side of Kaname Kuran. After all, vampires aren't all for rainbows and roses, and a purebloods even less. The story will contain graphic torture and sexual violence. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Zero was seething. "Go to your own little party with the vampire nobility, Kuran, and leave me out of your pleasant social activity!"

He whirled around and strode away, hands clenched by his side. For all that the blood bond should have drawn these two closer, there was no love lost between them. Every now and then he degraded himself by asking Kaname for blood. Kaname would take something else from him in return. There was never affection, only mutual tolerance.

"Kiryuu!"

The voice rang out, sharp and cold as cracking stone on the paved courtyard.

"You will attend. Be at my room an hour beforehand, dressed as someone befitting your station."

Then Kaname was gone, and with nobody to hear his retort, Zero was left with the acrid taste of fury and helplessness on his tongue. He cursed bitterly. _Someone befitting your station. _He knew what that was, alright. A level D ex-human, more often than not, a slave.

He turned up anyway. Starched white pants and jacket, plain and unadorned save for a dark tie and the earring.

Zero strode in without knocking, intent on showing his ill temper as much as possible.

Kaname was adjusting a jacket in the mirror.

"Take that scowl off your face, Kiryuu."

"I'll do whatever I want, thank you very much!"

"Get this straight, Zero. I don't want a political and social burden anymore than you. Yuuki begged me to protect you from the vampire council and your supposed murder of Shizuka Hiou, and the easiest and most effective way is to publicly show that you are mine."

"_Yours?" _Zero sputtered, going red in the face.

"Mine." Kaname reiterated, turning away from the mirror and looking into Zero's eyes. "My possession, and therefore out of the council's power. So, keep your eyes on the floor."

"Kuran – "

"Keep your head lowered at all times.

"Speak to no one unless you are spoken to.

"Never look anybody in the eye.

"Walk behind me at all times, one step back and to the left.

"Follow my lead.

"Stand behind when I am sitting."

And so on, a long list of rules that Zero memorized against his will as they sat in the car, tense and full of resentment.

"You do have a choice, you know. Me – or the council. And unless you prefer the latter, stay out of trouble." Flashing his teeth in a handsome smile. Kaname stepped out of the car as the door was opened. Zero did a beat later. _Some choice._

He shadowed Kuran the whole night, avoiding eye contact which he was only too pleased to do. After awhile of socializing and chatting, Kaname took a seat on a raised dais which Zero could only assume was for purebloods or very high ranking nobility. Zero stood behind Kaname, and was free to let his gaze wander – nobody would dare bother a pureblood doing "business".

"Have you acquired yourself a new pet, Kuran-sama?" a woman's voice purred over clinking glassware. It set Zero's teeth and hair on edge.

"Miss Souen, you do remember Toga Yagari? This is his former pupil, Zero Kiryuu."

"Silver hair…silver skin…how rare in a human – oho, exhuman, I mean…do you mind if a take a closer look, Kuran-sama?"

"My pleasure, miss Souen. Kiryuu, come."

_Eyes down. Face expressionless. Don't slouch like a human – _

"Madam," he greeted hoarsely. From what he could see of her smooth hands and legs, and the long waist length hair, she was beautiful – Ruka Souen's mother or aunt or sister, perhaps?

Cool fingers, slenderer than Kaname's, brushed his neck tattoo gently.

"Exquisite eyes, like grape stained zircons…You have this one tamed by magic, Kuran-sama?"

Kaname chuckled. "No, that was done by Headmaster Cross in case he attacked human students. I would not have needed this…"

"Oh, of course…" some laughter at that.

"What does he do, Kuran-sama? Surely the pupil of Toga Yagari has some interesting talents..." another woman's voice, her tones rising and falling suggestively.

"He has many talents that I know of …and probably quite a few more that I have yet to discover."

There was more laughter, as though Zero wasn't burning in shame, as though he wasn't there or as though he was too dumb to understand that he was being made sexual sport of. Kaname was just enjoying it, you could tell.

"I am surprised that you dare to bring this convict to such a formal setting, Kuran-sama." This was from a deep voice that rang of age and ancient power.

There was a perceptible shift in the atmosphere, as though the lesser pawns were sitting back and letting the alpha males of each side take their place on stage.

"On the contrary, Ichijou sama, I believe that exposure to vampire society and custom is an effective way of incorporating coexistence, if not peace, within our kind."

"And what about the claim that he was responsible for the death of our Princess?"

Ichijou wasn't openly accusing that Zero was responsible, or that Kaname was shielding him. He was merely "expressing general consensus".

"Are you implying that I do not have full control over my belongings, or that I lack full knowledge of their doings?"

Touché.

"Of course not, Kuran-sama."

And Ichijou backed down, yielding the game with grace.

Kaname gestured, and Zero backed away and resumed his place.

The conversation resumed its convivial pace, and laughter tinkled over expensive wine and delicacies.

"I'm quite fond of this pet of yours, Kuran-sama… would you lend him to me sometime?" the Souen lady again. She had been quite mesmerized by Zero's uniqueness.

The ex-human's heart thumped crazily in his chest.

"My lady, much as I would like to please you, I regret to say that … I require Kiryuu's service at all hours of day and night." Kaname turned her request away diplomatically.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Kuran! I belong to nobody!_

Yet he began to understand, on a deeper level, what Kaname had wanted to tell by bringing him here.

_You have no place amongst us. No place, no pride, no self ownership._

"Did you know," another lady said, "that the second Kiryuu twin was taken by Shizuka Hiou?"

There were a few chuckles from the vampires. "That suggests something similar in Kuran and Hiou sama's tastes, no?"

"And now even lady Souen has set her sights on the boy!"

"Really, Kuran-sama, you must demonstrate his abilities _sometime…" _Zero foamed inwardly.

Below the dais, a couple of noble's sons and daughters, rowdy and tempestuous youths, were getting high on each other's blood, avoiding blood bonding but having a good time all the same.

"Hey, ex-human! What are you doing with our betters? Get down off that dais, we require a waiter!" they called out to Zero against their sense and upbringing.

Zero ignored them. But when one of the nobles sent a sheet of ice sliding across the floor, his foot slipped and off he went, sliding down uncontrollably and crashing spectacularly into the nobles, bowling them over.

"Stupid ex-human! Watch yourself!" a boy cried, shoving Zero away. Zero stumbled against another noble, still trying to find his footing.

All eyes on the dais went to Kaname, ready to judge his every move. Would he lower himself by going to the level D's aid, and invite more gossip on his relationship with the "pet?"

"Filthy level D!" the enraged noble picked Zero up and threw him to one side, only the exhuman twisted to his feet like a cat and brought out the Bloody Rose. Several outcries of anger were heard, and Zero was running, the gun firing, and the mob of drunk nobles were after him.

Kaname knew just how severely the nobles would hurt Zero, given his ranking. But he was not about to go chasing after him. The pureblood called out mentally to the guards, and two of them materialized in front of him, on one knee and right fists over their hearts.

"Summon your men," Kaname ordered, "restrain them and bring them all back to me. _Do not harm any of them."_

They bowed their heads and vanished, in hot pursuit of the unruly gang.

The elites on the dais proceeded in their chatter as if nothing had happened, until eight guards materialized, dragging Zero and three noble vampires between them. Two of the nobles were looked like brothers, the third was a slightly younger boy.

They were bound by their ankles and wrists, behind their backs, and Zero was gagged. In the short time that they were away, Zero had been scratched and bitten repeatedly, and by the looks of it, beaten up as well.

The guards forced them to their knees in front of Kaname.

"What," Kaname quipped lightly, "is the meaning of this?"

There was no answer, and none met his dark, indolent gaze.

"Three noble sons, in the presence of your elders and superiors, _brawling_ like common _fools_ in a human tavern!"

His voice never rose above a derisive sneer, and yet the three vampires were shaking from head to toe.

"Who started it?"

None of them answered.

"_Who started the fight?" _

"I-I did!" The older brother's terror of disobedience was more than the terror of punishment. H cringed as Kaname walked right up to him. He was a beautiful brunette with slanted black eyes and shoulder length hair.

"You did this - " he pointed to Zero at one side, bruised and bleeding, "to _my _subject?"

"We were – I was – teaching him – " the older brother quailed at Kaname's sudden anger.

"_You were teaching?" _

The boy fell silent, in horror of his own words.

"Untie him," Kaname snapped, and a guard cut through the ropes on his ankles and wrist.

"Whatever you have done to the ex-human, do to yourself three times over," Kaname ordered.

The boy looked up in dismay, eyes wide in disbelief.

"No, on second thoughts," Kaname reconsidered. "Choose between your partners, and inflict the damage on one of them. Let your friends learn your lessons for you."

The vampire's fair face drained of all colour, leaving an ashen grey countenance.

"No," he pleaded softly, "no, please, I will bear it all myself."

"Choose," Kaname repeated, his voice hard.

There was no "or else", for the boy or anyone. Purebloods were obeyed, unconditionally.

All the vampires looked on eagerly; those uninvolved were enchanted by the ruthlessness of the young Kuran lord, who already knew what the boy's decision would be.

The boy turned around and faced them, one his best friend, the other his blood brother. The creed that governed all the existence of vampires echoed in his mind.

_The word of a pureblood is law. _

_None may disobey. _

"Forgive me, my brother," he whispered, turning to his younger sibling. "But I cannot risk the wrath of his family upon ours."

So saying, he closed his eyes and plunged one hand into his brother's side, tearing his flesh; the other tore at his hair. He continued in the mutilation, joining his brother's wailing with his own as he spilt the blood of the one he had loved and protected all his life.

Zero had never before realized just how powerful the purebloods really were.

The screaming of the two boys pierced the night air, sharpened by the sharp taint of blood, and yet he continued to injure his brother convulsively. The other nobles fidgeted like snakes in a brood. What delicious sport the Kuran lord provided them with! After all, these were only low-level nobles, unimportant and unimpressive.

Two bloody figures huddled on the floor, moaning and weeping silently. Kaname turned away in disgust.

"Give them something for their wounds, and let their families claim them," he said. The guards gave them a healing potion, and, the night's excitement ending, they resumed their socializing.

Left to one side with a healing drink working on his wounds, Zero listened on in disgust as the vampire lords and ladies discussed the gruesome scene with a disdainful enjoyment. The bloodshed had stimulated their sadistic, predatory sides. More than once Zero caught the sparkle of red eyed arousal behind the facades of these beautiful beings.

A guard dragged Zero behind Kaname's chair, his "rightful" place, and left him there, gagging him again and making sure his restraints were tight. With his ankles and wrists behind his back, Zero was forced to wait, on his knees, for Kaname to leave.

No parents came to claim their children who had so dishonoured their family by raising the anger of a pureblood. Their cruelty was shocking – brothers hurting one another for the sake of politics, children left to bleed and suffer because no clan wanted to be remembered as one who had wronged vampire royalty.

"Ah, Kuran-sama, you have livened up this night for us," cooed lady Souen.

"In truth, it was the work of my unruly ex-human. A pity that I had to make a scene," Kaname said almost regretfully.

"A most _pleasurable_ scene, indeed!" There were a few giggles of assent. "They were vampires of no consequence. It is good to remind them of their place once in awhile."

Zero cried out in shock at their indifference. It was muffled through the gag, but drew the attention of the vampires.

"Speaking of which, I must remind someone of his place," Kaname said. Zero glared at the pureblood's gold flecked eyes, glimmering with pervasion. "I was willing to spend more time here, but it seems someone cannot wait to be taught a lesson." The women cackled in delight, the men exchanged rueful glances.

"My lords and ladies…" Kaname stood up and took his leave of each of them, the charming lord to the very end.

"Untie his ankles, then come with me and bring him along," he told a guard. Zero groaned gratefully into the gag when he was pulled to his feet, feeling the blood rushing down. But the guard shoved him roughly after Kaname.

Zero was bundled unceremoniously into the back of the car, then pushed out of it when they reached the academy.

_I'll get him back for this. In private. One on one. _

* * *

I intended it as a one shot, but the chapter was over 5000 words long...so I'll post it in three or four parts...review!! Anonymous reviews have been enabled.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: If you have read my Kaname/Zero stories starting from "the Beast Within" all the way to "Scarlet Silken Spiderweb", you will familiar with my sadistic side…This is merely an experiment on a more violent, practically insane side of Kaname Kuran. After all, vampires aren't all for rainbows and roses, and a purebloods even less. The story will contain graphic torture and sexual violence. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

* * *

"_I'll get him back for this. In private. One on one. _

When they had returned to Cross Academy, he expected Kaname to walk to the school, but Kaname turned and headed for a stable a distance away. The guard followed, pushing Zero ungently.

Kaname dismissed the guard at the entrance of the stable, and propelled Zero in before him.

Zero stumbled forward, but was unable to catch his balance and fell on his face. The barn was old but clean, with straw on the wooden floor and well oiled hooks with hay nets, harnesses, reins and saddles. There were no horses.

Without the cool, calm presence of the vampires, Kaname was free to reveal his emotions. And reveal them he did, for as he shrugged off his jacket he shed the pleasant and charismatic demeanor he had displayed before the vampires; it slid off like a reptile's second skin and revealed the rancorous snake within him, twisting and spitting with a viperous grace.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Kaname demanded, striding forward.

The boy was rolling and wriggling awkwardly on the ground, trying to maneuver into a standing position.

Kaname took a hook which was attached to a long leather lead, usually used to hold a bale of hay for the horses, and slid the end into the ropes binding Zero's wrist so that his range of movement was limited.

He then yanked the gag out of Zero's mouth. The boy heaved and spluttered for a few seconds, working his jaw away from stiffness.

"What were my last words before we left the car?" Kaname questioned, his voice hissing and sibilant.

Zero would have spat in his face but for the particularly venemous sheen in Kaname's eyes that had lasted from when he had ordered the public defacement of the young noble vampires.

"You told me to stay out of trouble –"

"And _what _part of that did you not understand? Must I keep a constant eye on you, like a master on his _pet_? Is that what you want?"

Zero opened his mouth for a wrathful retort, but Kaname seized a long leather whip.

"If you insist on being a dog, I will treat you like one."

Zero's eyes leveled on the whip, glazing in horror. He pulled at his bonds fruitlessly, growling in agitation; raw fear boiled like acid in his stomach.

"Misbehave like a dog, and I will punish you like one!"

The ex-human never saw it coming, but he heard the whip's eager hiss as it unfurled and arced towards him. Zero managed to remain silent but he jerked away and choked all the same at the blow. He staggered to one side as fire tore through his chest and shoulders.

The whip fell again, and this time Zero groaned, his knees almost buckling.

He rushed head on at Kaname, intending to break free of the leather restraint, only the cord held and snapped him back, nearly spinning him around.

The third lash, and all thought of pride and control flew from his mind. The scream tore fitfully from Zero's throat as he collapsed to his knees from excruciating pain.

"You openly drew fire on the nobles!"

"I didn't start it!"

It was childish, pathetic protest, but Zero was in too much pain to think straight.

"What does it matter? Is it not obvious that station and rank are everything in our society? You, an exhuman, are no more than the dust beneath the soles of the vampire race, inches from insanity by my _whim!"_

He ripped Zero's jacket off, leaving him with no protection.

Another lash, and another, and another; each blow fell like a devil's deadly kiss, leaving long bloody welts that stood out starkly against his pale, bare back.

His skin parted almost gratefully; fresh blood welled from his back and trickled down, giving off the familiar rusty odor of mankind.

The human part of Zero hated Kaname with a black passion. The vampire side of Zero was in terror of the pureblood, and it showed itself strongly.

"Must I hide you like a beast to show you your place?"

Zero hated his weakness, his own shame, yet, on his knees and screaming, he could do nothing to help it.

He hated it that he was unable to escape and cowered against the wall like an animal, trying to dodge the vicious blows.

"No more!" Zero begged, almost incoherently. "Please, no more!"

Kaname stopped then, and Zero sobbed in relief.

"When I give you an order, you obey it!"

Kaname looked at his back, glistening with dark red blood in the moonlight, saw the boy's pallid face full of loathing and helpless terror, and felt a moment's pity. How old was this boy? Sixteen? Seventeen? He had lost his family at twelve…so young, to be involved in this.

_Young? I was born into the life of a pureblood. I was six when I learnt to inflict pain my my lessers. I was eight when my parents introduced me to this political dance of daggers and spears. I was twelve when I met Shizuka Hiou, the mad pureblood, and learnt about the curse of the bloodbond. I was fourteen when I committed the gravest sin possible in our race. I murdered a pureblood, Rido Kuran, my own uncle, to gain the sole hierarchy of the Kuran line. _

The whip cracked back to life, and against his will, Zero shrank toward the wall, whimpering.

He wielded the whip again, unwilling to let the boy off so easily; leather rent the flesh as a leaping lioness its prey. Zero threw back his head and bellowed like a wounded bull.

_Compared to me, you had it easy, Zero! You were brought into our world, babied and swaddled in soft cloth, when you were twelve! I was thrust to the fore line of battle when I was eight! _

Kaname was not surprised to find himself panting, and not from exertion. Never had the boy been physically tortured so; his bloodied frame, slender and nubile as a fawn, shivering and flinching at his every movement, excited the pureblood unreasonably. His body burned as if in a narcotic fever, and Zero saw and understood it. When Kaname's eyes lidded over with a demented pleasure, when his lips curled to reveal a tongue slipping over his extending fangs, rage, indignation and helpless fear churned in his stomach like a foul mixture.

"I'm sick and tired of your disobedience, Kiryuu. One more time, and Yuuki or no, I'll leave you out for the council dogs to treat you like your parents were treated by Shizuka Hiou."

"I hate you," Zero whispered, every syllable laced with abhorrence and poison. Kaname stopped short.

_You hate me?_

He reached into Zero's body with his mind, and found his own blood coursing through Zero's veins. He was already bleeding so badly, he didn't have to do much. One little burst of power, and Zero's bloodlust hit him full on, sending him into throes of numbing desire.

Zero's every sense heightened perceptibly to the presence of blood – splattered in a gruesome pattern on the wooden wall, oozing and welling off his back, trickling down the leather cord of the whip, pooling on the ground; but most of all, Zero's five senses zoomed in on the carnal drug of pure blood coursing, like boiling lava, through the vampire prince.

They were so close, but for all that there were only a few feet between them, Zero wishing for his blood was like wishing for the moon in the well.

"Stop it!" Zero screamed as he shook off the beginning traces of madness. "Stop it!"

Unfortunately for Zero, Kaname was in a very dangerous mood.

_You _hate _me?_

Zero hauled uselessly on the lead, a silver lynx trying to break free. Kaname grabbed Zero and turned his face towards him, looking into his lilac eyes, frantic with fear and insanity. Zero tried to pull away, but Kaname held him steady by his chin.

With his index finger, Kaname made a small slit in his right thumb, and ran the bleeding thumb over and under Zero's lips, leaving a bloody mustache within easy reach of his tongue.

The smell of blood, so fresh and potent just beneath his nose, assailed Zero. His eyes screwed shut, but the scent was overpowering and he could not block it out.

"If you hate me so much, then resist my blood!" Kaname taunted, releasing him, and bringing on again the bloodlust that had begun all this.

Zero tore away, the half-human side of his mind hunching his shoulders, trying to rub away the blood of his archenemy; the vampire side urged him to lick it, just a taste of the cool toxin that would satisfy this accursed thirst more readily than any other drink.

Kaname watched with a lopsided sneer as Zero shook and trembled and tried to control his warring sides, shoulders heaving and jaws clenched. Finally, Zero collapsed on his knees, wrists were bleeding from where the ropes grazed against his skin.

Kaname grasped his chin and turned the boy's face toward him. His lips were bleeding badly where he had bit himself to keep his tongue inside, but all of Kaname's blood was gone. Zero had given in and had licked it away.

Kaname shoved Zero's head away viciously. Zero gasped as his head made contact with the straw littered barn floor.

"What a disappointing performance…Yuuki seems to think you're human enough to be worth protecting. Now all I see is one with no more self control than a wretched worm in the dust!"

Defiance smouldered in Zero's heart, and he somehow managed to push himself onto his knees.

"Don't you befoul her name with your lips!" Zero roared.

A brutal kick, and he was back on the floor, winded.

Three times he got up, and three times he was kicked back down. There he lay, inhaling the musty odour of dried straw and old wood, every muscle in his body on fire and begging for reprieve.

The ox-headed stubbornness he was so famous for would serve his unwilling flesh no longer.

"Have you given up so easily? Why…Zero, what's wrong?"

Zero wasn't fooled by the perfidious tone of kindness. Kaname dragged him up to a kneeling position, but Zero crouched forward, putting his head between his knees.

"Get yourself away!"

"What are you hiding from me?" Kaname murmured, and Zero felt his cool breath teasing the strands of hair at the back of his head, raising goosebumps down his neck. The pureblood knelt behind, and, putting his arms around Zero, stroked his chest, flicking one nipple hard enough to make the boy yelp.

He slid his hands around Zero's waist, meeting in the center and inching their way downwards.

Zero swallowed and closed his eyes. This couldn't be happening.

* * *

Chapter 3 will be up...soon...I hope. I have to apologize for the long drag between updates, but I'm in the middle of moving house - and country. GRA.

So...more blood and violence will be up in the third and final chapter.

Review, please! This story is on alert for more people than have reviewed - culptrits, REVIEW!!

right, see you all soon!

-talking cockeral


	3. Chapter 3

AN: If you have read my Kaname/Zero stories starting from "the Beast Within" all the way to "Scarlet Silken Spiderweb", you will familiar with my sadistic side…This is merely an experiment on a more violent, practically insane side of Kaname Kuran. After all, vampires aren't all for rainbows and roses, and a purebloods even less. The story will contain graphic torture and sexual violence. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

* * *

Chapter 3

"What are you hiding from me?" Kaname murmured, and Zero felt his cool breath teasing the strands of hair at the back of his head, raising goosebumps down his neck. The pureblood knelt behind, and, putting his arms around Zero, stroked his chest, flicking one nipple hard enough to make the boy yelp.

He slid his hands around Zero's waist, meeting in the center and inching their way downwards.

Zero swallowed and closed his eyes. This couldn't be happening.

Kaname grasped his pants, rubbing intentionally on the hardness between his legs so Zero gasped. He pulled, and the pants ripped at the seam, coming away and baring the boy completely.

The sight amused Kaname very much.

"So you were enjoying yourself all the while!" Kaname sneered.

"No…" Zero groaned. "No…"

Derisive laughter stung his pride more than any rejection could.

He had lost so much blood, his back was a mangled mess, and he could still find it in him to get aroused?

What are his talents, indeed? Kaname wondered. There was such intense apprehension in Zero's eyes that he felt his own endorphins surging in response. He curled his fingers around the whip again, grinning a predator's steel fanged grin.

Zero had had enough of the whip. He crawled forward, awkwardly, on knees that were badly scraped and bleeding, until he was in front of Kaname.

Each individual breath wheezed loudly in the silence, and neither moved for awhile.

Then, Zero slow leaned forward and bit Kaname's belt buckle. He pulled the pureblood back, towards him.

Slowly, carefully, using his mouth, he teased the buckle open, unlocking the clasp with a quick tug and a few skilful manoevres.

He undid the button and did manage to pull the zipper down with his teeth. Pushing his mouth in, he found that Kaname was fully erect. Zero rubbed his teeth against him, earning a low moan hoarse and silty with lust. The ex-human nudged Kaname gently, trying to find a way though his undergarments, but his hands were bound securely behind, helping him none.

Kaname chuckled and slapped him playfully. Zero reeled slightly, but undeterred, he went for Kaname's hand and pressed his lips onto it, his breathing passionate and disjointed, kissing him almost desperately. He took each finger into his hot mouth, sucking and licking each digit, tasting grit and leather and the sweet woody hint of the whip handle.

He rubbed his head on Kaname's abdomen, keening softly, a whipped cur seeking forgiveness.

_What is it, this despicable addiction that overcomes pride and love and loyalty, that drives us all to the stars on ecstacy, and brings us all back down in shreds and fragments? _

Kaname gave a bark of laughter when he realized what Zero wanted.

_Of course. _

He fisted Zero's hair roughly and threw him to the ground.

"You have disobeyed my order, drawn fire on nobles – in public, shamed and disgraced yourself so pathetically…and you think that I, of all people, would want _you?" _

The word stabbed Zero like a fork in his heart, twisting vindictively, and he gave no answer but for the tormented desperation in his eyes.

Kaname knelt in front of him, put a knee between Zero's legs and rubbed against him where he was so hard and feverishly hot. Zero turned his head away, biting down his cries as spasms wracked his body.

"You truly do enjoy it…" Kaname smirked, almost in wonder.

"You insolent _whore." _

Without warning, Zero felt the sudden, vehement breach of privacy. But even as he let loose his lungs in a bawl, a sense of horror and realization pervaded his senses.

"No…" he mumbled, his breathing irregular from the sheer pain between his legs.

"No...no – no – no – please, no, stop it…"

"You asked for it," Kaname hissed maliciously, twisting the handle of the whip further up inside Zero.

Zero shrieked again.

Kaname dragged him back so that Zero was braced against his front, his bloodied back rubbing leaning on the pureblood's chest, his arms awkwardly between them.

"Your caterwauling annoys me," Kaname whispered in his ear. "I want complete silence from you!"

So saying, he jammed the remainder of the handle up, feeling his flesh stretch and tear and blood trickling out and onto his hands.

Mindful of his last lesson, Zero cast his head back and arched desperately, baring his fangs, but no sound came out except for a ragged wheeze.

"Very good…"

And Kaname wrenched it out, ripping him from the inside.

Zero tried to keep quiet. He really had, for some foolish notion of pride and endurance. But the ululating wail that echoed in the night could not begin to convey his anguish.

Kaname sneered as Zero keeled over, panting. His face was drawn and pale as snow. He closed his eyes in abject humiliation.

Kaname cast the bloody whip down, inches from Zero's face.

"Clean it," he ordered.

_My word is law._

"No." Zero forced it out through gritted teeth.

"Do it," Kaname said, "and I just might indulge in you for awhile…" his tongue flicked over Zero's ear, then moved down to his neck and shoulders. One hand danced tantalizingly over his groin.

It is said then when pushed beyond the limit of normal endurance, the human mind warps itself to preserve the human consciousness, and responds eagerly even to minute amounts of kindness and care.

Zero was strong and proud, but he was in no condition to draw any more damage to himself. Weakly, Zero moved his head forward and covered the leather cord with his mouth. Kaname drew it with one hand so that Zero sucked along its length, cleaning the blood that was from his own back; it was bitter with his own defeat and degradation. With his other hand, Kaname stroked Zero's sweat matted hair, crooning gentle encouragements to him.

When his lips touched the hard handle of the whip, he pulled away, shuddering convulsively at the memory of the brutal rape.

The soothing hand in his hair stopped.

"Zero? Why did you stop?"

Zero did not miss the icy menace beneath the façade of kindness.

"I – don't – "

"You don't?" Kaname prompted. Zero trembled as the fingers in his hair tightened threateningly.

Bile roiled in his gut; breathing harshly, Zero took the wooden handle up the hilt in his mouth, as if he would if it were Kaname, almost gagging reflexively.

When he had swallowed the last vestiges of his own flesh and viscera, Kaname tossed the whip to one side. Zero was glad to see it far away – at the very least, out of the pureblood's immediate reach.

"You poor boy," Kaname purred, bending over Zero. "You poor, poor, poor boy, bleeding so badly, hurting so much, suffering for my crime…shall I clean you up?"

Zero hissed his assent.

"Oh…but it looks so _becoming _on you…" Kaname traced the bleeding gashes on his back, his shoulder.

"I... need it..." Zero's breath was coming in shallow puffs. The pain threatened to overwhelm him; every speck of dust, every bit of straw seemed as salt on an open wound, digging into his raw flesh.

So Kaname kissed his wounds, letting his healing saliva close the leaking orifices, yet limiting his power so that the skin remained ugly and wrinkled. He could have let Zero healed completely, but he didn't – that back was once flawless, smooth and contoured as a vase. Now it was as though somebody had tossed the vase into fire, and in a fit of jealousy, raked its beauty with his finger nails, marring the perfect workmanship with hideous lacerations.

_I put them there. I marked him and claimed him as my own. _

Kaname's groin tightened. He cut Zero free, and the boy cried out in relief as he raised his sore wrists and flexed them to get the blood flowing again.

Zero wasted no time in putting his hands in Kaname's hair as the pureblood clambered over him.

"My beautiful, perfect, insolent little _brat," _Kaname breathed.

_What damnation is this, that has us, vampire and human, crawling on our knees…_

He thrust into Zero.

_Groveling on our bellies…_

Zero bent back in a perfect arch, hips and neck straining, flat abdomen taut and glistening. His eyes were open but seemed not to see, they were staring but not looking -

_For a moment's flighty caress?_

Kaname withdrew and slammed in again.

Zero closed his eyes and exhaled, lost in bliss, mindless of the dizzying pain.

_There can only be one answer, the same answer that comes with mortality. _

Kaname entered him the third time, buried himself to the hilt in Zero's bloody warmth.

He sank his fangs into Zero's shoulder, indulging his wanton lust, re-establishing the bloodbond; claiming, once again, complete possession of this part vampire, part boy, part beast.

Zero had lost a lot of blood, was losing even more, and was dangerously close to unconciousness. His soul seemed to have left him; it hovering from above, and he looked with another pair of eyes down onto his own body, below Kaname, his eyes half lidded in elation, his hands holding Kaname needily, staining the pureblood with blood from his bleeding wrists.

_From above he saw that_ _Kaname's body changed, it was no longer recognizable, not even remotely humanoid – his hair fanned over his shoulders and became the hood of a cobra, his body, strong and sinuous and ridden with silver scales, twisted around Zero's in a serpentine grasp; his fangs spilled his blood greedily, and his eyes were a deep, scorching scarlet, burning with bestial avarice – _

He was dangerously close to the brink of sanity, teetering like a car on the edge of a cliff…one step, and he would be gone forever…

_The scene shifted, or was it just that his eyes watched from a different view? The cobra's scales deepened and flattened and morphed into molten metal; hard muscle hardened further and shaped into a linked rope, and Kaname was a snake no longer, but a long steel chain, binding Zero mercilessly, irreversibly…and Zero arched longingly into it, yielding to its deadly embrace…_

They exploded simultaneously, bodies awash in ice and fire and unadulterated ecstasy.

_The same answer that caused Adam and Eve to be banished from the Garden of Eden._

"Kaname…one more time…"

_The temptation of forbidden pleasure…_

_The fabled curse of the viper's pit. _

* * *

Great galloping gargoyles. This was one mammoth of a story - I intended it as a one shot but 6000 words seems a tad too long, so I split it as best as I could. I can only hope the flow wasn't too badly affected because of the split up, because I imagined it as one long on going...session.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, they were the first man and first woman created by God and lived in Paradise, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from any fruit they wanted save fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. This law they abided by until one day, the Devil came to them in the form of a serpent and brooked the idea of eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Unable to resist, Adam and Eve gave in to their temptations and hence were banished from the Garden of Eden by God for lusting after what was forbidden. I just ... twisted the ideas a little to suit this story...and yes. I had to make Kaname quite - very? - different from in the manga/anime...hopefully not too far fetched?

I really, really, really owe all the readers, commenters and reviewers a tremendous thank you. It gives one no greater pleasure to know that others have enjoyed his/her work - especially since don't update that fast!

_The story of "The Viper's Pit" ends at chapter three. I apologize to those (like Yen girl) who were looking for a kinder and more loving conclusion to the mindless torture, and I did toy awhile with that notion – however, I decided to return to my original idea of a bloody, violent story between Kaname and Zero. I mean, to have Kaname turn around and be gentle after all this would make him schizoprenic, or so I feel. _

_So no, I resolved to leave it at this, at the point where Zero makes the decision to "enter the pit" and is trapped within irreversibly. _

_I had loads of fun writing this arc of cruel, lust-minded Kaname/Zero stories, beginning all the way from "The Beast Within", and it ends with "The Viper's Pit." I have yet to finish "Scarlet Silken Spiderweb", but when I do, I will probably have moved on to other fandoms/pairings. Unless I get any other inspiration concerning K/Z, my plots are drying up…I'm thinking of an AU for K/Z, but it's not well thought out enough yet…plus I'm into my last year of high school, so it's gonna be a busy year ahead._

_Hence, yes. The K/Z stories end here, although I won't say there aren't more to come! I'll be seeing you guys soon, hopefully! Thank you all for the support you have given me. I owe all of you eternal gratitude and happiness, seriously!_

_By the way, out of curiosity, what do you guys think of a story like this? Was it too violent and gory? Should I have toned it down a little?_

_- Talking Cockeral_


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